Objective To determine if breakfast consumption or content affects academic achievement measured by standardized tests. of both parents household income BMI and cardiovascular fitness and Pearson correlations were calculated from all breakfast eaters (n=617) between test performance and components of the breakfast. Results When compared to non-breakfast consumers the breakfast consumers had significantly higher scores in all three WIAT-III components (all p<0.05). In breakfast consumers servings of fruit LY2811376 juice were negatively correlated with reading comprehension and fluency standard score and mathematics standard score (both p<0.0001) and greater servings of whole grains were significantly related to higher scores in reading comprehension and fluency and mathematics (both p<0.05). Conclusion Both breakfast consumption and the content may LY2811376 be associated with improved standardized test performance in elementary school students. Keywords: Breakfast Academic Achievement Children Elementary School Diet Introduction Breakfast is typically the first meal consumed after waking in the morning and is widely perpetuated LY2811376 as being the most important meal of the day [1]. Breakfast consumption has been linked to FABP4 a number of positive health benefits including a more favorable dietary profile [2-4] maintenance of body mass index (BMI) [5 6 increased physical activity behavior [7 8 appetite regulation [9] and improved metabolic profiles [10]. Children who skip breakfast are significantly less likely to meet fruit and vegetable recommendations and are more likely to eat unhealthy snack items [11]. Claims for the benefits of breakfast on health and disease risk reduction have encountered LY2811376 recent scrutiny due to a lack of support from randomized-controlled trials [12]. Despite strong associations between BMI and breakfast consumption the independent effect of breakfast loses some if not all significance when accounting for confounding variables such as total energy intake parental education and socioeconomic status [11]. Two major benefits related to breakfast consumption that are often touted are decreased energy consumption later in the day and increased leisure-time physical activity [13 14 However recent evidence has shown that decreased energy consumption by breakfast eaters later in the day does not offset the caloric intake of the breakfast consumed [15]. Further although modest increases in physical activity may be observed in children who consume breakfast the evidence is insufficient to support the claim that failing to consume breakfast is detrimental to physical activity levels [7 8 13 Despite criticism that breakfast consumption may not convey the metabolic benefits often claimed considerable interest has been given to the relationship between breakfast and academic performance [4 16 Most notably this relationship is used in support of the provision of breakfast via school-based programs [19-21]. There is reason to believe that the consumption of breakfast may improve cognitive performance and academic achievement [18 20 22 however most of the previous research did not account for confounding factors such as socio-economic status parental education fitness level and demographic characteristics. Furthermore most research has simply compared LY2811376 a breakfast to no-breakfast intervention without examining the content or composition of the meal. The research examining the composition of breakfast mostly focuses on glycemic load (GL) or glycemic index (GI). Postprandial glycemic response and its effects on cognitive performance have been studied and there is evidence to support a benefit of a low-glycemic load breakfast and/or lower postprandial glycemic response on academic achievement and cognitive performance [3 19 22 23 A systematic review by Edefonti and colleagues concluded that there is emerging yet insufficient evidence to substantiate claims that breakfast consumption results in improved cognitive performance and the review reported contradictory results when energy macronutrient content and/or GL/GI are manipulated [23]. Specifically when discussing children and adolescents the finding that provision of breakfast by schools increases attendance may confound results from studies on cognitive performance and participation LY2811376 in the Federal School Breakfast.